"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Charlie Rose' program on Tuesday was particularly interesting ...and satisfying.

Two books were on the table, each with collaboration of two authors.

First was The Fourth Revolution and second... Think Like A Freak.
Half the program was allocated to each. Authors of the first ,were Editor-in-Chief of the Economist, a British journal and its Managing editor.

The second was a journalist of high repute and an eminent professor.

I don't remember names but they could be googled

The first examined organized government from the beginning of civilization. China having the first civil service.

There have been three revolutions already . We are in the midst of a fourth.

Governments world over have ground to a halt in chaos .

Twin problems identified are Cronyism and Entitlement.

We know about that don't we in Aurora. We could have written the book . the perfect microcosm.

In my mind the difference is .......at our level of government, a candidate ,who commits to seizing cronyism and entitlement by the throat and giving the pair a bone -rattling shake ...can get elected.

I've been doing it for years. Hoping it would catch on. Maybe now's the time.

The second book was a serious look at our conditioning.

Analogy of an art was used.

A magician , holding a kerchief, stretches his arm up and instructs his audience to pay close attention. Adults do.

A child, on the other hand, looks where he wants to and spots the magician's sleight of hand .

The Professor offered another analogy, closer to home. A person ,very much his junior ,could offer an idea to a group and get zero reaction. Ten minutes later, the professor offers precisely the same idea and genius is instantly proclaimed.

As a person without credentials, what I offer is simple and common sense. But the table perceives it to be too simple and too common. It can't be worth much .

It's my experience... as one without status... and outside cronyism , whose ideas must be squashed .... whose rights must be trampled with lawyers and such....

12 comments:

They are unable to see themselves. They have Visions. The run on the bank will continue until the hydro fund is depleted. Then they will be faced by a Council that lacks the where-with-all to fund their life styles.

I noticed a letter from Mr McIntyre complaining about finding the money to pay the mortgage, to repair the place. Pauvre M. McIntrye. Heaven forbid he have to deal with such mundane exhausting details. And like so many before him be forced to downsize and reduce his expenses as he ages. He truly believes Aurora taxpayers should bear the responsibility of assisting him. But sadly laments that councillors could vote against his ideas because he does not much like the name of the plan to include him in the cash grab anyway. What say Council do just that ? Tell him politely that he has to deal with his own reality like everyone else.

Off-topic Does anyone know what happened with the Edward Street Market ? From the # of cars there over the lunch period, I figured it was doing all right. Now it's closed. The place is only a few years old, surely too soon to need renovations .

17:02 Consider that there is no status at the food pantry. Not likely to meet any town "movers and shakers" there. No $1.50 a word consultants to be seen. No expensive trappings to make one feel comfortable. No wine list to ponder.

Having said that I am with you - would love to see a few bucks now and then go to the pantry.